Today I offer you pork casserole with sweet apple. This time we’re using specially selected pork to make for a super tender dish. And we’re not using just any old apples; we’re using Bramley apples. The sweetness of the apples combined with the succulent pork makes for a really special pork casserole that’s so hands off it’s easy to forget it’s in the oven. READ MORE

I was discussing with a very famous vlogger recently (yes, I know, look at me down with kids, just call me Hollella) how pretty much everyone who loves their food is also a little bit absorbed in the workings of their digestive tract. To put it more bluntly, what goes in; must come out, and if you care about the quality and flavour of what you’re ingesting, then it’s only natural you want your digestion to work in harmony. READ MORE

The sheer alchemy of applying heat to ingredients never ceases to amaze me. Take apples for example. Raw apples are tart and bright and crisp and loud. Cooked apples are soft and slow and quiet. You could secretly eat cooked apples without anyone knowing. Raw apples are too shouty for that. READ MORE

In my book there’s only one way to improve on the humble but moreish sausage roll and that’s to super-size it. This giant sausage plait is spiked with caramelised onions and sweet grated apple, then topped with lots of crunchy sesame seeds. This is proper feed a crowd fodder that tastes great without breaking the bank. READ MORE

I love a glut challenge. Any time I’m faced with a lot of any food stuff I come over all war time housewife. I don an apron (which almost never happens, is it just me or do they instantly make one look 5 months pregnant?) and disappear off to the spare room, which is now the baby’s room, though you wouldn’t know it. It holds an enormous roof box, lots of Christmas presents, 10kg fondant icing and many, many empty jam jars just waiting to be filled with chutney, relish, jam.

Our first born son didn’t have to sleep between the ‘Driving in France kit’ and a filing cabinet bursting with old copies of Waitrose magazine. First born slept amongst John Lewis’ finest. Poor third child. Maybe he’ll be the best middle class chef France has ever seen by way of osmosis.

So this year when given a cider-y amount of apples I found myself hankering after baked goods to squirrel away rather than chutney. I don’t know why. I think I might be spoiling for something. My freezer is my preserving jar this Autumn. Full to the brim with these cupcakes. They defrost very well indeed and are, I think, a suitable lunch box cake if left un-iced. Of course come Christmas when we only have beetroot relish and no apple chutney at all I might well regret this decision, but for now I’m standing by it.

You could of course add pecans, toasted almonds, chopped and toasted hazelnuts, raisins, dried figs, dried cherries, whatever takes your fancy. I am sworn off adding nuts to anything that might be child friendly after a Facebook ‘fan’ got a bit uppity about yet another recipe I’d posted that contained nuts. I considered apologising and then remembered Kate Moss’ old adage ‘never apologise, never explain’. A mantra for life. And she’s alright isn’t she? I’d buy her a pint.

175mls oil (sunflower, groundnut, rapeseed – anything flavourless but beware extra virgin olive oil as it has a strong flavour and not everyone likes it in baked goods)

180g muscavado sugar

170g self raising flour

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

3 large eggs, at room temperature

160g grated apple (cooking or eating)

1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

1/2 tsp ground cinammon

1/2 tsp ground ginger

Preheat the oven to gas 4/180C and line a 12 hole cupcake tin with large cupcake cases or muffin cases. Once the oven has preheated mix all the ingredients together with a wooden spoon until there aren’t any lumps or traces of egg yolk visible. Pay particular attention to the sugar as it can sit in lumps. Spoon into the cases evenly and bake for 20 – 25 minutes until well risen and a toothpick comes out of the middle of the centre cupcakes clean. Cool on a wire rack out of the tin.

A word about icing…

Should you wish to make some buttercream (like the picture) then a very good recipe that works well with these cakes is 125g room temperature butter beaten until really soft and creamy, then add 250g sifted icing sugar, a tablespoon at a time, beating well after each addition. Lastly add 2tbsp Monin gingerbread syrup and beat well again for 7 minutes using a stand or hand mixer until really light, creamy and flecked with air like mousse. Then use a knife to plaster the top of each cupcake with icing and sprinkle with gingerbread men sprinkles. If you don’t want to invest in gingerbread syrup (though it is very good in coffee and frankly any Christmas related baked good) then use 1 tbsp vanilla extract with 1/4 tsp cinnamon and a little grated nutmeg (barely 1/8 tsp). Keep tasting (oh the hardship) to make sure you’re happy with the flavour.

P.S. To sign up for my free monthly newsletter just click here. It has a baking SOS, recommendations on bits of kit I can’t live without, my kitchen catastrophe of the month, a sneak preview of a recipe coming up on this blog and a letter from me telling you what I’ve been up to. Remember to check your inbox for a confirmation email and also to add my email recipesfromanormalmum@gmail.com to your contacts. Otherwise I could go to spam.

I have long been a fan of the Crumbs blog written by sisters Claire and Lucy. They’re as funny as I’d like to be. And also rather glam in their cosmopolitan, London way. I think we could be friends if we lived nearer to each other. In fact I suspect we’d be very good at drinking wine and too many crisps in local pubs. But alas, I live over 100 miles away so I have to admire from afar. I was VERY excited to hear the girls had a cookbook deal. Long overdue. I love my copy. It’s full of easy recipes my kids want to eat, it makes me laugh, smile and nod in agreement at their tales of parenting. And it’s very easy on the eye; the design is spot on. Think Jamie Oliver typography with a dash of River Cottage illustrations. It’s ace and you can buy it here.

I was recently given a LOT of apples and the sisters came to the rescue with this very easy to make and even easier to eat cake using a whopping 8 apples. I enjoyed it cold with a cuppa but loved it most served warm with scalding custard and a little drizzle of caramel.

Heat oven to 180C; grease and line a 20cm square cake tin. Toss the apples in the lemon juice and ground cinnamon the minute they’re chopped. Combine the rest of the dry ingredients in a bowl. Add the eggs and butter and beat to make a stiff batter. Add milk if it seems a bit dry. Fold the apples (and any remaining lemon juice) into the batter. Pour into the cake tin, smooth down and sprinkle with demerara sugar. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.

I have 3 x £16.99 (RRP) Crumbs books to giveaway to 3 lucky people. There are lots of ways to enter – see the Rafflecopter form below. The first way is just to leave a comment on this post. Easy peasy. Closing date 21st November 2014. How to enter:

Complete the form – or your beloved entries will not go into the draw. And that would be such a waste of time.

Mandatory entries need to be completed first – so leave a blog comment before you try and complete any of the other methods of entry.

Want more chances to win? Come back daily after tweeting about the giveaway and fill the form in again.

If you are viewing this by email you will need to click through to enter.

Rules and things:

Open to anyone over the age of 18, UK only. Sorry to anyone younger or further afield.

There are 3 x £16.99 (RRP) Crumbs books to giveaway to 3 people. There’s no cash alternative to the prize and the prize is not transferable. No part or parts of the prize may be substituted for other benefits, items or additions.

Instructions form part of the terms and conditions. Entries using any software or automated process to make bulk entries will obviously be disqualified. The winner will be picked at random using software and then contacted by email. If you win and then don’t respond to this email within 7 days then another winner will be picked so check your emails and your spam! The goodies will be delivered to the winner as soon as possible after you have sent me your delivery address.

I am running this giveaway on behalf of CICO books who will be responsible for sending the prize to you by post should you win. Their decision is final and binding and no correspondence will be entered into.

This is where I get all stern – please don’t say you have liked the post and followed me on Twitter and Tweeted away like a Tweety thing if you haven’t as guess what? If you win I will check you did do the things you said you did. It’s only fair after all. And I do like fairness.

Yeah, I know it’s a complete and total mouthful. Sorry. I just had to get all the information in. It’s a bad habit of mine. When I recount a story I always give too much detail, like I feel I’m cheating the poor recipient of the tale if I don’t give them every single last mind numbing detail. Poor them. It’s why me and the written word are better suited. Being a bit long winded is not necessarily a negative in writing, it can positively be a positive. Sometimes. So here’s the detail:

My Nanna has an apple tree that has an attitude problem. One year lots of apples, the next none, then this year just a few. It’s like it’s varying it’s yield to seek attention. Maybe she has relationship issues and no one to listen to her problems. Anyway, each year we have to think of what to do with the varying amount of apples. One year we had such a glut there was apple pie, chutney and frozen apple compote for wintery porridge breakfasts. Last year there was nothing. Zilch. We were apple pie-less. This year we have just a few so here’s my solution to not many apples from a very temperamental love-lorn apple tree.

840g apples, weight when peeled and cut into cubes (this was 6 large apples from my Nanna’s tree)

1 tbsp lemon juice

2 tbsp cornflour

1 tsp salt

3 tbsp light brown muscavado sugar

1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

Glaze and icing:

20mls milk

10mls lemon juice

50g icing sugar

You need a baking tray that measures roughly 32cm x 22cm x 1cm.

Mix together the flour, baking powder and cinnamon then rub in the butter with your hands until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. (You can also use a food processor with the blade attachment to do this.)

Beat the cream cheese, vinegar and egg together until well mixed and without lumps – I used a fork and then a whisk to achieve this. Then add this to the breadcrumb mixture and use a blunt knife and then your hands to pull everything together. Wrap the pastry in clingfilm and rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Prepare the apples by peeling and coring them then chopping into 2cm chunks. Toss them in the lemon juice then the rest of the filling ingredients. Stir well and set aside. Preheat the oven to Gas 4/180C.

Cut the pastry in two and roll out one piece onto a floured work surface using a rolling pin; be careful to roll in one direction only (from your tummy outwards) and then pick the pastry up and turn it 45 degrees. If you roll backwards and forwards you are likely to stretch the gluten in the flour and end up with tough as old boots pastry. Roll until you have a rectangle that will more than cover your tray. Transfer the pastry to the tray carefully, letting it slightly overhang. Then do any repair work necessary using your fingers to pinch any cracks together.

Fill the pastry case with the apple mixture then roll the other half of the pastry to just fit the baking tray, being careful to only roll in one direction as before. Transfer to the top of the baking tray, over the apples. Then pull the sides of the bottom crust of the pastry over the top of the pie and press down slightly. Glaze with the milk, using a little to glue the seams of the pastry together.

Cut into the pie to let any steam escape then bake for 40 minutes until the pastry is golden brown and the filling is bubbling away. Make up the icing by mixing the lemon juice and icing sugar together and drizzling over the top of the slightly cooled pie. Serve hot, cold, with cream, with ice-cream, with custard or just plain.

I went to a school where every girl had to have a best friend. The class was divided into neat little pairs. Every so often someone would decide they wanted to break best friends and have a new best friend, which would of course mean everyone had to break best friends. It was barbaric. One girl in particular was responsible for a lot of the rumours spread that resulted in the inevitable breaking of friends, tears, sleepless nights and snotty tissues. She was expelled in the end. Although at my school it was called being ‘asked to leave.’ Private schools love a euphemism.

Recently I noticed a friend of a friend on Facebook post a photo of herself and the mutual pal together with the label ‘I love my best friend!’ or something similarly twee. It made my blood boil. So territorial, so exclusive to every other friend either woman may have. It’s as rude as not replying to a party invite. Don’t even get me started on that.

The only kind of best friends chat I tolerate in this house is between brothers. Ie/ my sons. I tell them all the time to look after each other, that they’re so lucky to always be best friends etc etc until I feel my voice grow hoarse. Years ago, when my eldest were still in utero, I read that if you tell a child something enough it becomes their reality. So I carry on with my indoctrination of sibling best friendery. It’s working so far. Who knows how long it may last.

These samosas were made by my little boy Max who is almost 3. He did a mighty fine job, brushed the filo, folding the triangles. They’re delicious warm with a stir fry as a ‘fusion supper’ (husband’s words not mine) or cold in lunch boxes. Beware they’re moreish.

Make the filling by frying the onion and garlic in the oil until soft on a medium heat in a frying pan. Add the pork and beef and turn the heat up. Fry until browned then turn the heat down and add the crumbled stock cube. Chuck in the mushroom, pepper, carrots, apple, cranberry sauce and black pepper and fry until everything is soft and the carrots and apples are starting to stick to the pan. You basically want a really dry mixture. Remove from the heat and set aside.

Preheat the oven to 200C/gas mark 6 and line two baking trays with non stick paper. Take a square of filo and brush with melted butter then fold in half into a long rectangle. Brush with butter again and place some filling into one corner then fold that end over to make a triangle. Keep folding, using butter as an adhesive until you reach the end of the samsosa and then paint the edges shut using the butter to fold the filo over. This video is very useful if my instructions are lacking.

Repeat for all 12 samosas making sure to pack them tightly then bake in the preheated oven for about 20 minutes or until golden brown and very hot. Be careful if small people are eating them warm as the filling really retains it’s heat.

Make the pastry by rubbing the butter into the flour and icing sugar (use hands/food processor or KitchenAid on speed 1/2 using flat beater) until you have a breadcrumb like consistency. Then bind together with the egg using either a blunt knife or the flat beater at speed 1 on the KitchenAid. Once you have clumps of pastry pulling together, use your hands to gather into a ball. Wrap in clingfilm and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Roll the pastry to a thickness of about 3mm and line a 23cm loose bottomed tart tin with it. (I move the pastry by laying both hands under the pastry with palms upwards and fingers spread wide.) Make sure the pastry is pushed into the corners, then run the rolling pin over the top of the tart tin to trim the pastry edges. Line the pastry with greaseproof paper and fill with baking beans/uncooked rice or pulses. Bake in a preheated 180C/Gas 4 oven for 15 minutes then remove the beans and paper and bake until lightly golden brown and baked through. Remove from the oven and allow to cool but leave in the tin.

Toss the apples in the lemon juice and set aside. Mix the flour and caster sugar together in a saucepan then pat dry the apples and tip into the flour-sugar mixture – stew on the hob for 5 – 10 minutes until the apples begin to soften but still hold some shape and the mixture begins to caramelise – by turning brown. Set aside to cool a little.

Make the meringue by whisking the room temperature egg whites to medium peaks and then adding the castor sugar a teaspoon at a time – 30 second intervals between each teaspoon as this stops the meringue weeping in the oven by ensuring all the sugar dissolves. Add the cornflour. Whisk until at stiff peaks and very glossy and white.

Preheat the oven to 180C/gas mark 4. Tip the apple mixture into the pastry case, spoon the caramel over the top and then either spoon/pipe the meringue starting at the edges (making sure the pastry is touched by the meringue) and working inwards (or the filling will escape) then bake for 20 minutes.

I love Autumn, in fact I love Winter too. Spring’s good. Summer I am shy of. It’s the need to bare flesh and drink white wine rather than red that just doesn’t sit too well with me. But Autumn with your ’70s brown and orange colour scheme and your leaving the house cold air slap in the face and your chin skimming scarves and your comfort blanket roast dinners and your warming, lip staining red wine and your scalding crumbles and your crack and crunch toffee apples and your oohs and aahs at the fireworks that last all of 2 minutes. Autumn, I love you.

Is there anything more Autumnal than oats, apples and blackberries? Here’s a little video I made with Sainsbury’s of these flapjacks. I *may* have taken two trays home from the shoot. They were that good.

Ingredients:

150g salted butter, cut into cubes

75g demerera sugar

120g golden syrup

300g porridge oats

50g apple, cut into chunks

100g blackberries (fresh or frozen)

Preheat the oven to 180°C, fan 160°C, gas 4. Grease a 20cm square baking tin and line with baking parchment.

Melt the butter, sugar and golden syrup together in a large saucepan. Stir in the porridge oats and fold through the apple and blackberries.

Pour into the baking tin and bake for 25 mins until golden. Cut into 16 squares while hot and then leave to cool in the tray.

If you like flapjacks but want to make your mix go a bit further you can save money by making these flapjack balls. (Also loved by kids, it might be their miniature nature.) Or if you want to make your flapjacks a little bit different adding jam to the middle is delicious. And my favourite alternative to regular flapjacks has to be this no bake version using muesli, butter and toffees. It’s very easy and very moreish. Dangerous!

I’m a mum of 3 boys, a cookbook writer and also a finalist on the 2011 Great British Bake Off.
I’ve decided to record the recipes I use, partly to save them somewhere and partly in case someone else might like to use them...
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